Makloube (Spiced Upside-Down Rice Dish)
  • Yield: 6-8
  • Prep Time: 60-90 minutes
  • Cook Time: 30-45 minutes
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Makloube (Spiced Upside-Down Rice Dish)

By September 29, 2018

Mabloube, simple translates into upside down dish. A fragrant middle eastern spiced rice dish with fried or roasted vegetables such as eggplant and cauliflower. Depending with which region of the middle east you live in, you will see Makloube made with different vegetables like chickpeas, tomatoes or potatoes. You can make it with chicken, lamb, beef or simply omit the meat all together and keep it vegetarian. It’s not a difficult dish to make, however it’s takes some time to put together. The trickiest part is the flipping or tilting the artfully piled meat, vegetables and rice perfecting onto the plate and keeping its round shape. Trust me, the first few times I had rice all the counter and floor, but what really matters is the taste. Once piled onto a plate, trust me you want to garnish it with an assortment of toasted nuts, like almonds, pine nuts or cashews, it really brings the entire dish together. Enjoy.

 

Ingredients

  • MAKING VEAL BROTH
  • 2 ½ - lbs of veal large chunks
  • 2 tablespoons light olive oil
  • 1 large onion (peeled and cut in half)
  • 6-8 cardamom pods, lightly cracked
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 4 bay leaves
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon all spice
  • ½ tablespoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper corns
  • ½ teaspoon of red pepper flakes or 1 whole dried or fresh chili
  • 5 cups of water
  • MAKLOUBE~RICE:
  • 2 medium eggplants, cut into circle shapes and fried
  • 1 head of cauliflower, cut into bite size and fried
  • 2 ½ cups of rice, washed (your choice, I used Basmati)
  • 1 tablespoon of Salt (adjust to your liking)
  • 4 ½ cups of veal/beef broth
  • ½ tablespoon allspice
  • ½ tablespoon makloube or 7 spices ground powder
  • ½ cup of slivered almonds, toasted
  • ½ cup of cashew, toasted – optional
  • ½ cup of blanched almonds, toasted
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley for garnish (optional)

Instructions

 

Meat Preparation:

  • Wash the veal pieces with cold water and pat then dry. Heat light olive oil in a deep pot over medium-high heat and sauté veal meat for 1-2 minutes on each side.
  •  Add water, onion, black peppercorns, chili pepper, all spice, nutmeg, cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods and bay leaves to pot. Let it come to a boil.
  •  Cover and let it cook on medium heat for 45-1 hour or until meat is very tender.  Add salt and cook for another 5 minutes. Set aside while you fry the vegetables.

Preparing your Vegetables: I don’t make this dish frequently, only because it takes time. But when I do, I make it without any health alarms. Basically, I fry everything. You can either fry the vegetables, or oven bake them. In the past, I have made it both ways, and both take the same amount of time.

  • Option 1—Frying eggplant: peel a strip along both side of the eggplant and slice into round disks. You can cut in half if eggplant is to large. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. and place in hot oil in patches. Fry 2 to 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels to remove excess oil, set aside.

  • Frying cauliflower: Wash the cauliflower florets, drain in a colander and pat dry with paper towel to remove excess water. Heat oil, place the half cauliflower florets in hot oil and fry for 3-4 minutes stirring occasionally to ensure even browning, fry until crisp and brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess oil. Repeat with the remaining cauliflower florets.

  • Option 2--- oven baking: preheat oven to 375 F, layer the eggplant and cauliflower on a lined baking sheet. Brush evenly with light olive oil and sprinkle a little of salt. Bake for 20-25 minutes then broil on high for 3-5 minutes till golden brown.
  • Toasting the Almonds:  In frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil and toast almonds and pine nuts separately until light golden brown ( be careful, as they can over toast in seconds). remove right away and place on plate lined with paper towel.

Layering Makloube to cook:

  • Once meat if cooked, remove from broth. Strain the broth to use for cooking the rice. Any left-over broth can be stored in the fridge to use later. Have all your ingredients arranged and ready to assumable dish.

  • In a large pot, place meat as your first Place cauliflower as your second layer into the pot then add eggplant as third layer after that add the cauliflower.
  • Place the rice over the third layer and spread evenly. Sprinkle the all spice, makloube spice and salt over the rice
  • Carefully add the strained broth (4 ½ cups) over the rice. Make sure the broth is lightly covering the top of the rice with at least ½ inch to spare.

  • Cover the pot and allow to come to a boil on medium to high heat. Then reduce the low -medium heat and cook for 15-20 minutes more or less depending on your rice. Just check on the rice to make sure it is cooked. (NEVER stir rice while cooking). Remove from heat and let it rest for 10 minutes.

  • Prepare flat round serving plate, place over the pot and quickly flip the pot over the plate then hit the pot with hand from different places and gently lift it up.
  • Garnish with parsley and toasted slivered almonds. Serve and enjoy Makloube with your favorite side dishs, goes well with plain yogurt and cucumber salad and Lebanese salad.

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